


Sunsets (Be the calm to my storms)

by Aston (AstonT)



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Colors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:50:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8407579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AstonT/pseuds/Aston
Summary: Josh's POV for Monochrome. Josh has always lived in screaming color. He never expected to have someone give him a calming base for all that.





	

Color had always played a huge part in Josh's life.

He'd always paired a color with how he felt, memories, everything about him was made of colors.

He'd never had black and white there to slow him down.

Not until he met Tyler any way.

His family had long since gotten used to his spur of the moment decision to bleach and dye his hair some off the wall color.

And so, going into freshman year, his hair was a bright red. He smiled at the strange looks he got going into the school that first morning.

He'd just settled into his seat in Maths when he caught sight of Tyler.

He said nothing until the teacher had dismissed their attention back to their classmates, saying to get to know one another for a bit - Josh loved when teachers did that.

He glanced over to see chocolate eyes glued to red hair, a strange expression showing.

"Like it?"

A non committal noise came forth in response, chocolate eyes flickering to meet mocha.

"I'm Josh,"

A small smile - Josh counted it as progress.

"Tyler,"

It was soft, quiet, and so shockingly calm and different from Josh's usual company that it brought a smile forward.

* * *

The week following, Josh found himself quite content in getting to know Tyler a bit. 

It wasn't until after that week that Josh stopped seeing Tyler eying the red in his hair curiously.

He didn't question why it was so interesting to Tyler.

* * *

Josh drummed on the desk in his room absently as he waited for bright blue dye to set in his hair. It had been a long process, getting his hair back to bleached pale-blond to do a new color, but it was so worth it when he saw the finished image. 

Even so, he didn't expect Tyler's reaction to the blue to almost mirror the one to the red - this one was shorter, a surprised look to bright blue hair in their morning maths class.

Throughout the class, he saw Tyler glance at the blue once or twice more before it settled down to small smiles anytime the brunette boy caught sight of the bright blue.

* * *

That Saturday, Josh found himself wandering the streets around dusk, enjoying the autumn air as it moved past him. He really shouldn't have been surprised to find Tyler at the ledge of an abandoned building. 

But he was, and it spurred him up to check on the boy, concerned that something was the matter to cause him to be out alone so late in the evening.

But the two of them sat out there for hours, just talking and laughing quietly as they watched the sun set and the stars come out, watched as headlights became less frequent and eventually stopped.

Josh walked Tyler home around two that night, exchanged numbers with him, and smiled on his way home.

* * *

Christmas came and went in a blur of text messages and infrequent hang outs outside of their homes. 

New Year's Eve, he timed it perfectly so that at midnight, his hair would have changed from blue to blond to green. 

When they went to school again four days after that, he grinned when Tyler started laughing in response to the new color.

He loved Tyler's laugh, he decided then. It was all white - pure and innocent, happy. It was nothing more than a strange cackle, mixed in with a short giggle from time to time, but it was purely Tyler's and it made Josh happy to know he was the cause of such a happy sound coming from the boy who sometimes seemed worlds away.

It left behind a light in chocolate eyes that made them look more caramel than chocolate, and Josh wasn't going to complain.

* * *

When Spring began, Josh immediately put purple in his hair - a habit he'd gotten into two years ago when he did it for Easter. 

When he entered school, Tyler started talking as soon as he heard the familiar greeting, not looking up from his phone as he started talking.

"Hey, Josh. I was wondering, what are you up to this..."

Just then Tyler looked up and trailed off, raising an eyebrow at the purple in Josh's hair.

A strange flash of emotion flashed in caramel-chocolate eyes before it was gone again and Tyler was continuing on talking like nothing had happened.

* * *

The purple faded fast, which Josh wasn't fond of. 

But he barely had time to focus on that, more focused on Tyler.

His anxiety had gotten worse, Josh noted to himself as he answered a call from the boy at two one morning, soft whispers interrupted by hiccuping breaths.

And he was patient, talking to him until he heard Tyler's breathing even out in a sign of sleep before he let himself drift off.

After all, he wasn't about to abandon his friend to his problems.

That was the first taste of pure black hopelessness he'd ever experienced - Tyler calling him randomly crying or needing to talk because he couldn't be alone.

Or sneaking out to walk with Tyler around town in silence that was occasionally broken by a sniffle or a soft thank you or sorry from the brunette boy.

* * *

When school ended, Josh dyed his hair pink. 

He showed up with it pink on the last day of school, and he was happy to see Tyler smile at the color.

* * *

"So...Taco Bell?" Josh asked curiously as Tyler and him left school for the final time that year. 

Tyler nodded with a wide grin. "Please,"

Josh grinned in response, and the two settled into a calm conversation on their walk towards Taco Bell.

He hadn't expected to find someone who could be such a calming presence, who would represent black and white and grey in his whirlwind of colors he called a life, but he was glad it was Tyler.

* * *

Two weeks into summer, Tyler came over with a ukulele in hand and Josh grinned when he shared a song with him - it wasn't something Tyler did, he knew, and he loved it even more knowing that. 

But it didn't hurt that Tyler was _amazing_ at putting emotion into words that should mean nothing, that wouldn't make sense if you couldn't understand the emotion in his voice and look past superficial words to find the meanings.

And then, towards the end of summer when the pink was faded, the two found themselves on a bridge at the edge of town at sunset, just talking. 

"Josh..."

Tyler sounded so broken, so small, that Josh looked away from the dripping colors of the sunset to give him a worried look - pink and orange and red washing over them and turning Tyler from black and white and grey to a beautifully messy masterpiece that took Josh's breath away to see.

But shaking hands and panicked eye locked these thoughts out of Josh's mind. "Ty? What's wrong?"

Tyler just broke, letting out a quiet sob that scared Josh half to death because he'd never seen Tyler anything less than composed. But he moved to wrap his arms around the boy, back to the colors of the sunset and his focus on his best friend.

And over the next hour, Tyler choked out a mess of stuff that felt like stabs to the heart with burning knives to Josh.

But through it all, Josh was quiet, he let Tyler vent as he cried into his shoulder.

And when the tears had stopped and Tyler fell silent, Josh spoke. "I don't care who Blurry thinks he is, but you're amazing, baby boy." he said softly. "I'm so glad you told me this. You're gonna be okay,"

He felt more than heard the broken, quiet laugh that Tyler gave in response, followed by a fresh wave of tears that Josh just wiped away without a word.

* * *

The next year, he let his hair go back to it's black-brown color, a testament to how Tyler had affected his world as well as a break for his hair. 

Josh was invited over to dinner at the Joseph house the first week of the new school year, and he blinked in surprise when he saw the color-filled pages on the other boy's walls.

His black and white and grey had been just as impacted as he himself had.

Where Tyler had anchored him, Josh had given Tyler a new way of feeling, of letting it all out without worry.

Tyler gave a shy smile in response, and after dinner, the two disappeared back to Tyler's room.

Tyler wound up sharing a full song with Josh - something as hauntingly amazing as the realization that had happened before dinner, in his mind.

Josh went home with Tyler's lyrics scribbled on his hand - "stay alive, stay alive for me."

The smile didn't leave his face as he fell asleep that night.

* * *

That Halloween, both boys sat out until the sun rose. 

Josh smiled as the blackness of night slowly began holding new colors - a pure representation of exactly what had become of Tyler and himself in the last near year and a half.

Tyler had been saying something - talking about all the times that Blurry had tried to talk him into ending it, all the times that he had wanted to end it.

Josh smiled in bitter irony. "Well, I'm glad you didn't," he said softly.

Tyler smiled in response.

And once the sun broke the horizon, Josh stole one of Tyler's quotes, throwing it back at him. "We'll try again, then,"

Tyler understood immediately, and Josh grinned and started climbing down from the ledge so they could head home.


End file.
